The Shining - Scene analysis

The shining is a psychological horror film from 1980, directed by Stanley Kubrick. The opening sequence shows the film's protagonist turned antagonist traveling to a hotel in the mountains where he has a job interview to be the winter care taker. The first thing we see is as establishing shot of the rocky mountains where the hotel is situated, which dissolves into a birds eye view shot of the car traveling along a road surrounded by trees. This shows the pure size of the area around the hotel that they will be staying in that is uninhabited. The shots of the opening sequence always have mountains in the background which also shows just how far away from the built up cities and civilization this character actually is. The sequence is made up of long takes which elongates the sequence and thus illustrates how long and lonely the journey his is taking must be. Furthermore, whenever we see the car traveling along, there are either few or no other vehicles on the road, allowing us to see just how alone this man is on his journey. All of this together creates a sense of isolation as there is nothing around them. Isolation is a convention of the horror genre and creates an uneasy atmosphere in a film as the audience can see that the characters are completely and utterly alone with no way of finding immediate help should things start to go wrong. Moreover, the natural lighting of these shots makes everything seem normal and calm which juxtaposes the chaotic nature of the situation in the rest of the film. There is non-diegetic sound in this sequence of slow, low brass music. As the sequence goes on, this music is joined by other strange sounds that are difficult to identify. As these sounds get more and more intense as the sequence goes on, they can be seen to represent a key part of the narrative, Jack's slow descent into madness, as well as foreshadowing the unnatural events that are going to occur. This intense music is conventional of the horror genre as it raises tension and makes the audience suspect that something is not right.
Later on in the film, Jack is in 'The Gold Room' when a waiter spills drinks all over him and takes him to the bathroom to clean up. As they walk into the bathroom, there is a long shot showing the full bodies of both of the characters allowing us to see what they are wearing. Jack is wearing normal clothes that people would expect in the 1980's, when the film was made, whereas the waiter is wearing the sort of black tie that would be worn by men in the 1920's. This shows the audience that there must be something wrong and that this must actually be going on in Jack's mind as the two times are crossing as if the waiter is a projection of the past, which leads the audience to question whether it is actually happening and share in Jack's madness. Furthermore, the bathroom that they are standing in is completely red. The colour red has connotations of danger, therefore the pure amount of red in the bathroom could signify the sheer amount of danger that Jack is placing his family in as well as showing that this conversation is the start of the true danger at the hotel. This is a very long take which highlights the importance of the conversation that is taking place. When the waiter tells Jack that his name is 'Grady' it cuts to a mid two shot, allowing us to see the expression of both shock and recognition on Jack's face at this name. Once again, this is a very long take so that the audience cna see the progression of Jack's frustration and insanity at Grady denying that he is who Jack knows him to be. This builds builds the tension and makes the audience expect that Jack will get angry at the waiter. In this shot, we also start to hear the diegetic sound of the band playing in the Gold Room. However, it is heard as more of an echo of the actual playing. This is a convention of the horror genre as the sound creates a very eerie atmosphere that makes the audience feel uncomfortable. This particular convention always works to make me personally feel afraid and uncomfortable as the echoing means that the sound is quite faint and therefore you do not know whether the sound was actually made or if it was just in your own head. This leads you to question your own sanity, showing the more psychological aspects of this film. In these shots between Jack and Grady, Jack is always to Grady's left side. According to lore, Lucifer was God's left hand man before his fall and therefore we always see the devil as being on a person's left shoulder. His being to the left shows that there is something not right, almost demonic about Jack. Also, this could show that Jack is Grady's left hand man, and that Grady is in fact the one controlling what is happening to the family in the hotel. The next shot is a close up of Jack. The director, Stanley Kubrick, was always extremely precise with the composition and positioning of each frame, and in this shot, Jack is slightly off centre. This illustrates that Jack's mind is not entirely stable and that his mental health is becoming unbalanced. In the next shot, we are given a close up of Grady, which allows us to see the harsh, almost scheming expression on his face. In this shot, Grady is also slightly off centre, however this time he is the one to be placed slightly to the left. This illustrates that Grady is the devil on Jack's shoulder and is trying to convince him to do these terrible things. These shots of the sequence use eye line matching between the two characters. This allows us to see the contrast in emotion on the faces of the two men as they talk. As Grady tells Jack about what his son is doing, this eye line matching shows that Grady is staying completely calm whilst Jack becomes more annoyed and distressed. This illustrates that Grady is manipulating Jack and considering that he is surrounded by red, that he is the centre point of the danger at the hotel.

Cold Mountain - Film sequence group analysis

This clip opens with an extreme long shot as the man is walking through the mountains, this shot establishes a setting and shows the expanse of the land, it helps to give the audience a feeling that he is isolated and alone. Back lighting is used when he is standing atop of the hills, looking across the snowy landscape, this illustrates that his character is going to be living in the shadows and represents the darkness and segregation. There is now a straight cut from the man to a mid-shot of a young woman with ink on her hands and red eyes, I think this shows what the man is thinking about as a woman's voice reading a letter starts as he looks down, this is an example of how indiegetic sound is used in this clip. I think this technique was used to show that he is thinking about it and keeps going over it in his head, just like the woman appears to be doing in this scene because she has lots of ink on her hands like she has had to re-write it a lot to get down what she is feeling. This shows an attachment between the pair and her despair. Non-diegetic sound is used during this short sequence of the clip, it mirrors the mood of the woman and makes the audience sympathise with her character. Low-key lighting as the woman cries is echoing her mood of missing somebody. The ink on her hands shows that she has been writing for a while and is therefore confused and unsure of what to write, illustrating that the letter/note she is writing is of great importance.

Within the next cut, low-key lighting is used again, with the exception of the fire, this portrays that the men are relying upon the fire and it is a key part of the clip. As the men are sat around the fire for their survival for the night, they are illuminated yet the background and the edge of the woods is darkened and unfocused. Therefore, the men and the fire are a metaphor for life yet the darkness of the trees is a metaphor for death. This shows that the line between life and death is very fine. This is foreshadowing, as soon the men will cross the line over to the darkness.

The medium shots used as all the men are gathered around the fire show that they feel comfortable around each other. The scene soon cuts to a long shot showing how many people are around the fire, this helps to establish the setting and characters of the setting. The two original men are outnumbered, this foreshadows how it may go wrong. Eye-line matching is a key aspect of this clip as its shot reverse shot between the men as the conversation rolls and it portrays that they are all connected.
As they all gather around the fire, one of the men begins to play the violin, this is diagetic music as we can see where the sound is coming from and it is not added post-production. Close ups are used on the older man who walks away from the fire, it helps to show the worry and sadness on his face, this intrigues the viewer and shows that he most likely knows what is going to happen to the original men.

Reflective analysis - 8 shot film sequence

• My intention was to produce a short sequence of film falling into the genres of both comedy and thriller, as it has conventions of a thriller film but is so over the top that it comes across as comedic. I hoped to create a sequence with overly dramatic actions that would make the audience laugh, almost as if we were making fun of the thriller genre.

• The target audience for this piece of film is the members of the film studies class, 16 - 18 year old male and females who have some good knowledge of film and can identify the irony or sarcasm that we tried to use in making this sequence. Also, teenagers can relate to the feeling of horror that we experience when we lose our phone.

• The conventions of thriller that we used were intense music to build up suspense and make the audience worry about what will happen to our character's phone. We also used a non-diegetic heartbeat sound effect to raise the tension and make the audience feel the worry and fear that the character is feeling at the loss of their phone. To make the scene comedic, we used overly dramatic non-diegetic sound in a situation that wasn't all that dramatic as well as making sure the sequence blew the situation out of proportion.

Scene Analysis – The Outsiders (1983) The Fountain Scene

In this scene the ‘socs’ arrive at the park where Pony Boy and Johnny are hanging out, drunk and looking for trouble.

When the socs arrive, there is a sequence of close ups, first on Johnny’s face, then a soc’s flask, then Pony boy’s hand reaching into his back pocket for a knife. This highlights the anxiety that Johnny feels towards the possibility of a fight breaking out in contrast to Pony Boy’s readiness to fight the socs. The close up of the flask shows us that these people have been drinking and so they are likely to be looking for a fight. This scene involves many close ups mainly focusing on character’s faces, showing how these characters feel about the events that are inevitably going to take place within the next few minutes and displaying the tension between the characters which shows viewers that they have previous experiences of fighting or conflict between them, suggesting that these characters could be from rival gangs.

As the boys confront each other, there is no music, only diegetic sound, which shows the seriousness of the situation as it makes us focus on what the characters are saying to each other, provoking each other. When the Socs start to chase Pony Boy around the park, music starts. The music is urgent and punctuated rather than being a smooth piece of music, which follows the action of the scene as when Pony Boy is being held underwater he was frantically trying to get up and breathe, so his breaths would be uneven and in short bursts, much like the short bursts of trumpets in the music. Furthermore, trumpets bring connotations of battle as in history, trumpets were used to announce the arrival of troops before a war starts, suggesting that this is one battle of many between two clashing sides.

As the socs start to chase the other boys, it cuts to a long shot so that we can see just how outnumbered they are, and how there is no way that they could get out of the situation as the victorious party. When they start to hold Pony Boy under the water, we see a close up of Johnny pulling out his knife. From this, we can tell that Johnny is going to do something to help is friend, suggesting further that they are from a gang of some kind as they are supposed to protect each other as best that they can, especially from rival gangs. A Dutch angle is used when Pony Boy is being held underwater. We know that something bad is going to happen, however after seeing Johnny draw the knife, we do not know whether it will be to the soc or to Pony Boy, and the dutch angle shows the uncertainty as well as helping us to understand the twisted nature of the socs, holding a younger boy under the water with the intent of killing him.

We are not shown exactly what happens next, however the following shot is a long shot of three bodies. Therefore, we are shown that at least one of the socs did not get away, as well as keeping a distance between the soc, and Pony Boy and Johnny which further illustrates the divide between the two groups of people.

Horror films

Horror films are designed to scare and shock us. They pray on people’s deepest, darkest fears and bring them to life on screen. They use suspense and keep us waiting for something, anything to happen. And when that something finally does happen, the anticipation and dread we felt turns into fear and it makes us jump. Many modern horror films tell the story of something happening in the past, which takes the audience back with them and they see the rickety old houses with blank faced dolls and old children’s toys. These expressionless toys have been the basis of many horror stories through the years, people would say that they had been possessed by spirits or demons and forced their children to do evil things. In ‘The Woman in Black’ (2012) the toys are used to indicate that the spirit is in the room. A symbol playing monkey will start to jump and crash on its own, or the stuffed toys will fall off of shelves and the mobile about the cot will start to turn. Whilst watching the film, you see these things happening and automatically begin to feel the anxiety of waiting for the figure of a woman dressed in black to appear.

Horror films can also pray on the fear many people have of what effects mental illness and traumatic events can have upon a person. In the film ‘House at the End of the Street’ (2012) the loss of his sister causes a young man’s mind to become warped. He prays on girls who have a similar aesthetic to his late sister - the same hair and eye colour, the same build - and after making them trust him, he would drug and kidnap them so that he could replace the sister that he lost and try to fill the void in his life. Films like this feel more real to the audience than those dealing with ghosts or spirits as there is some sense of reality to it which makes it all the more frightening as it makes us suddenly aware that not only could it happen to us, there is a small chance it could be happening in the world already.

Films that deal with ‘spirits’ and ‘demons’ can be equally as frightening as these more realistic films. The film ‘Paranormal Activity’ (2007) shows a demon that has attached itself to a woman for the majority of her life. The movie was filmed as if it were a home video, one of the characters has a camera and we see only what the single camera picks up. We do not see a lot of what happens, but we hear it. Hearing the sounds of what is going on builds up the suspense to finding out what is actually happening. The sudden noises and crashes coming from other places in their house makes the audience jump and because we cannot see what is going on, we are frightened for these characters, it makes the film seem real.

The idea of any of these supernatural or paranormal occurrences actually happening is a thought that terrifies many people, which is why the filming style of ‘Paranormal activity’ is so effective. But what is even more fear inducing than that is a single sentence at the start of a film that no one ever wants to see: ‘Based on a true story’. ‘An American Haunting’ (2005) is the film adaption of one of the most well-known ghost stories you will hear, The Bell haunting. As soon as we see that these events actually happened, we already feel nervous as this shows us that these events have happened in the past and could therefore still happen now. Another film that includes those dreaded words is ‘The Conjuring’ (2013). As with most films that I consider to be better horror films, this film contains a lot of jump scares and less blood and gore. One scene in particular in ‘The Conjuring’ managed to frighten me more than most. In the girls’ bedroom, something appears suddenly on the top of their wardrobe and jumps down to attack them. I think this scene is so successfully scary because before this happens, we are lulled into a false sense of security. We think that nothing else will happen in the scene as there is nothing to tell us otherwise, then all of a sudden something appears and we see a close up shot of something jumping down onto one of the girls along with a scream. The sudden moves of this scene make it scarier and made it successful in scaring me.

My Favourite film of the summer 2014

My favourite film of the summer was 'Divergent'. Having read the book, I was aleady excited to see the transition from page to screen. The film is about a future post war society that is split into 'factions' depending on personality type and whether you are; kind, smart, honest, selfless or brave. If you do not conform to one of these factions you either live a life of poverty or you are named a 'Divergent'. These people are seen as dangerous and are hunted by society.

The soundtrack to this film is mostly made up of songs by Ellie Goulding, who as an artist, tends to write songs with an air of hopefulness to them. This fits perfectly to the film as the characters are constantly relying on hope to get them through. The choice and timing of these songs also adds to the film, making each moment even more intense, heartbreaking or even more thrilling.

As a whole, I see this film as a metaphor for our society where being different is frowned upon and those who don't fit society's view of the perfect person are riddiculed relentlessly.  As someone who does not conform to these standards set by society and has a dress sense different to the normal, I very much relate to these characters and their struggle to belong in their world. The different factions in the story can be seen as the different cliques or groups in highschools; the nerds, the jocks, the emos etc. and each group has their stereotype. In 'Divergent' Tris, the protagonist, comes from 'Abnegation' which is the selfless faction. They always put other people before themselves and are known to not stand up for themselves, earning them the nickname 'stiffs' as they just stand still and take criticism. However, she decides to transfer to 'Dauntless' the faction of the brave. To get into their home base, the new members are told they must jump from the top of a building. Due to the stereotype of Abnegation, everyone expected Tris to jump last or that she would have to be pushed - even when she reached the bottom she was asked if someone had pushed her - but she decided to break that stereotype by being the first to jump, proving that she belonged in Dauntless, that she was no longer Abnegation. This is another reason why I love this film, it shows younger viewers that they do not have to conform to stereotype and fit in, that they can be different yet still find somewhere that they belong.

One scene in particular that stands out for me is when Tris is in her 'fear landscape' where they are shown their greatest fears and try to overcome them. Their society exists in a single city that is enclosed by a guarded wall. Whilst in her fear landscape we see Tris being attacked by birds but behind her we can see the wall. The fact that she is clearly inside the wall when showing her deepest, darkest fears shows that she feels trapped and is afraid that the society will always keep her trapped inside their walls.

Why was 'The Fault In Our Stars' such a big box office hit?

'The Fault In Our Stars' was one of the years biggest box office hits making $48.2 million in its opening weekend, beating other much anticipated films such as 'Maleficent', 'X-Men: Days of future past' and 'Godzilla'. Box office success can be measured in terms of the number of people who watch the film, however it is more commonly measured by the revenue from Ticket sales.

'The Fault In Our Stars' is based on the New York Times bestselling novel by John Green, a book which already had an enormous fan base which helped ticket sales substantially as people who had read the book were excited to see how the story would be portrayed on screen. Furthermore, the author, John Green also has a huge following in the online community with almost 3 million Twitter followers and over 2 million subscribers on his YouTube channel. 20th Century Fox used his 'internet fame' to their advantage as John would constantly tweet and vlog from set, sharing his own excitement. This spiked interest for the film throughout his fans as they wanted to know about John's latest project and to make him happy by ensuring the success of the film whether this was by watching it or helping to raise excitement on social media.

But the author and his fans are not the only reasons for the film's success. As the main characters, Hazel and Augustus, the film features actors Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort who were also part of one of the years earlier hits 'Divergent'. The actors had to completely change their on screen dynamic from brother and sister to teenagers who are in love with each other. So not only would fans of 'Divergent' be excited to see Woodly and Elgort side by side again, fans and critics alike flooded to the cinemas to see the actors perform this change of chemistry absolutely flawlessly.

Just as important as this to the success of a film is the storyline and the message it carries. 'The Fault In Our Stars' is a heartbreaking story about a teenage girl with terminal lung cancer. We see both the struggles of her life and the positives that can come from being a teenager. It teaches us about an issue that is very real and could happen to any of us, helping younger people to understand what people suffering from cancer go through, however unlike many films dealing with the same issue, it is done in a more lighthearted way and does not focus on the morbid parts, whilst still staying as close to fact as possible. The humour of this film not only helps to make sure that it is not too upsetting and morbid, but it also helps the film to appeal to a larger audience. The story of Hazel and Augustus is a good old fashioned romance that would usually appeal to a mostly female audience, however the jokes, computer games and the friendship between Augustus and Isaac makes the film more universally appealing than most romantic films, commonly known as 'Chick flicks'.